An overview of the Law Enforcement disclosure exemption, including why you should know it, and some of its more interesting features, such as when it permits institutions to refuse to confirm or deny the existence of a record.
Author Archives: Justin Petrillo
FOI Software: “Off The Shelf” or Custom Built?
You shouldn’t try to create your own FOI software, or even spend valuable institutional time in customizing existing software, when there is already an off-the-shelf solution available.
FOI Requests Dropped Sharply During COVID-19
Freedom of Information (“FOI”) requests filed to provincial and municipal institutions in Ontario dropped by 27% in 2020, from 60,394 requests filed across the province in 2019 down to 44,167 requests filed in 2020. This drop occurred during a year dominated by the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interim Fee Estimates are Optional
There is no need for the institution to prepare a fee estimate between $25 and $100 until it has completed the work involved in processing the FOI request.
Should You Include a Time Extension in Your Interim Fee Estimate?
When an institution expects that it will be issuing both a fee deposit request as well as a time extension for the same FOI request, how should it proceed? Should the institution issue the time extension first, the fee deposit request first, or should it issue them both in the same letter?
